One thing that most of us have done during the extra long pandemic is wash our hands. A nice luxury in washing hands has been foaming hand soap. It is convenient and saves a step or two compared to bar soap. It is also less messy in the bathroom. However, is it safe? Is it non-toxic? Most inexpensive foaming hand soap may contain many toxins. These toxins may build up in our body over time.
While it is difficult to escape toxins in this world today, we should make every attempt to do so. Often we are absorbing toxins through our skin without realizing it; often in the soap we use. We can even absorb toxins by breathing the chemicals from the cleaning products we use. When toxins get absorbed into our bodies they increase our toxic load making us more susceptible to diseases, viruses and other pathogens. The effects of toxic overload are well documented. Are we washing our hands with toxic soap that may be increasing our toxic load?
One soap that is considered to be non toxic is Dr. Bonner’s Pure Castile Liquid Soap. It is considered non toxic by a variety of sources (1, 2, 3, and 4). However it is more expensive when compared to soaps you can get at Wal-mart or other sources. However there is a way to wash your hands with non-toxic foaming soap and save money over the toxic chemical foaming soaps that are readily available.
Five Easy Steps
Here are the steps to use Dr. Bonner’s Pure Castile Liquid Soap as foaming hand soap that is less expensive than the foaming soaps at discount outlets.
Buy a container of foaming soap at Amazon or a discount outlet. A common foaming soap is Dial Foaming Soap.
Do what ever you want to with the foaming soap in the container and rinse out the foaming soap container.
Put back in 60% water. We recommend Zero water. Any water will work (including tap water). Put in 40% of Dr. Bonner’s Pure Castile Liquid Soap.
When the soap is all used up, keep the container and refill with 60 % water and 40% soap.
When using products purchased at Amazon, the $2.09 Dial Soap (7.5 oz) becomes $1.50 when refilled with Dr. Bonner’s Pure Castile Liquid Soap (from a 32 oz container of peppermint soap) and water. That means a savings of 59 cents per container and you take up less space in land fills because you are reusing the container. This is an additional bonus to our environment. A 32 oz container of Dr. Bonner’s Pure Castile Liquid Peppermint Soap will last up to 10 refills.
We recommend using Zero water. Zero water is water that has been filtered by a Zero Water filter. The water has no electrolytes or dissolved solids in the water. Zero water will not effect the ions in the Dr. Bonner’s soap. Zero water does not even conduct electricity. However, with the amount of water that we use, even hard water should not effect the mixture too much. You can adjust the mixture of water to soap according to your desires. Hard water (water with more dissolved calcium and/or magnesium) makes soap easier to rinse. Soft water makes soap harder to rinse and requires less soap to get clean.
Dr. Bonner's Pure Castile Liquid Soap comes in several varieties. Use your favorite scent. In the example above Peppermint was illustrated. Another option is Lavender or Rose. You can even dilute the liquid soap more if you want to and it will take less time to rinse. At 40% soap and 60% Zero water, it takes about 20 seconds to rinse which is the recommended time to wash hands for the pandemic.
There are many advantages for using foaming soap that contain no toxic chemicals. The largest advantage is that your and your family’s hands are free of bacteria and viruses without the toxic chemicals often found in foaming soaps. Over the years, your family’s health will appreciate your efforts. Your own body will too. Even your pocket book will appreciate it. You will have the luxury of using a pleasant smelling non-toxic foaming hand soap to keep clean.
The photograph was by Yogendra Singh at Unsplash.com. We are grateful.
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